JESSIE THORNTON'S UNITED KARATE STUDIO

Don't forget- We are closed on Monday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day!! Go! Dream! Love!

See ya in January!

Congratulations to these awesome students on moving up!!

Hey Ringgold Black Belts- we need your help this Friday.. It's TEST NIGHT!! 6pm!!Hey Ringgold Black Belts- we need your help this Friday.. It's TEST NIGHT!! 6pm!!

Big Sale @ Joy's tomorrow!! Come see us!! Open til 5pm! Sales in Aging Gracefully, grace house, Combs and Waddles, Pearls & Petticoats, & Joy's!! 706-965-8148

More Awards for 2020!!

Congratulations on the orange belt, Sophie!

Fun times in Ringgold @ Christmas!!

Congrats to Mori and Malachi!! Wooo Hooo!!

THEY ARE TOTALLY AWESOME! ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL! I AM SO EXCITED! PLEASE TELL ALL "THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!" YOU ALL ARE OFF THE CHAIN! I LOVE YOU ALL!... LIFT - I'M ALL IN! GOD'S BLESSINGS WITH LOVE! See more

How First Gup families have Family Dinner! Lol

Karate Students are allowed to wear Halloween costumes to class tomorrow (10/30)!Karate Students are allowed to wear Halloween costumes to class tomorrow (10/30)!

Hey Y'all- we're going to be closed on Thursday 10/29 .. Stay safe.Hey Y'all- we're going to be closed on Thursday 10/29 .. Stay safe.

No Ringgold UKS Banquet this year so we get our annual awards between classes!! Congratulations to all our students!! You & your parents are all winners! You're making an effort to exercise, learn self-defense, develop self-discipline, and self-esteem. #soproud #yourock (More to come)

Congratulations on that stripe, little Millwood!!

Congrats on your new belt-rank, Aaron Thomas!!

Tonia Patterson!! 5th Degree Black Belt!

Congratulations on earning your 2nd Degree Black Belts: James Kilgore Eli Vaughn Brandon Luzier Great job, guys!!

Congrats, Jameson!!

Hey gang- tonight's 6:30pm BB class will include 3 new 2nd Degree belt presentations!! Come join in & support!!

Congratulations... earning new belt-rank .. Moving on up!!

Shout out to all the First Gups testing this Thursday!! Go get it!!

Have a blessed Thanksgiving! Next week, we will have classes on Monday Tuesday & Wednesday. Our Adult-only class WILL meet on Tuesday @ 11;30am.

Congratulations, @Tonia Patterson on your 5th Degree Black Belt!!

Moving up in rank!! Woo hoo!! Keep on kicking!!

Congratulations to our most recent 2nd Gup & 1st Gup!! Landon & Seth!!

Great bunch of red belts.. The future of UKS is bright!!

UNITED PAST AND PRESENT from 2017 The floor was so crowded with so many to see, ... they all wore Ben's Yellow putting some to their knees. There was Robert, Jessie, and James all down on the floor. Steve, Jim, Terry and DeLoaches plus many many more! I have to add Richard who just doesn't lose, He's rarely defeated and still has those good moves. Mitzy and Tara were the best in those days. Each time they competed I was always amazed! Then came the next wave who were great on their own, Shawn, Keith and there's Derrick who's still in his own zone! Who could forget K O Nichols on ESPN with Ben in her corner she garnered the win! Next up a new group who were fine as any. Each time they competed there were trophies a plenty! There was Chuck, Mark, and Desmond plus the Awads to beat Then up steps a tough fighter a bad man to meet. They call him Jim Jr, a chip off the block, It runs in their family family In karate they rock! Lets mention the girls, who are best of the best. They've all been on stage up above all the rest. There's Jais and Carolyn with no peers to her kicks, that girl tagged Amazing and Brianna with those kicks! The new kids are coming so hold on to your hats They are big and so quick with skills like the past I'll bet you know more who are not on the list with so many great fighters it's so easy to miss. And we all thank Ben Kiker the head of our gym None of these champions would be there without him. I am reminded that there are more, many many more, great United Black Belts not included above by name but they are just as much a part of the evolution of our school. In fact some of the most noteworthy are not mentioned but this was written within about an hour to remind us where we came from and where we are headed. All possible thanks to Ben Kiker. TR. 2017

The progress test scheduled for tonight is postponed until NEXT TUESDAY 11/10.The progress test scheduled for tonight is postponed until NEXT TUESDAY 11/10.

Congratulations on earning your 2nd Degree Black Belts: James Kilgore Eli Vaughn Brandon Luzier Great job, guys!!

Hey gang!! It's Fall break @ Catoosa Schools but karate will be open Tuesday - Friday. We are closed today, Monday.

Congratulations to one of our great students!! So proud!!

New students!! Come kick with us!!

Hey students.. Mr Pendergrass' forms class is cancelled for this evening. Regular classes are still as scheduled.

Congrats, Walker!!

Congrats to the students earning new rank!!

Gotta love First Gups...

Congratulations Jessica West!

Here we go!! Progress Test!

* Active BLACKBELT students - Progress Test at Jessie Thornton's United Karate Studio tonight @6:30PM.

Awesome job, Cade!!

Y’all...it appears as if our Joy’s United Gift Shop page has been hacked; none of the admins can access our shop’s page. Please bear with us as we try to figure this out...we may have to start over from scratch and start a new page.

Congratulations to new belt recipients!! You guys are awesome!!

Ringgold Black Belts: Tomorrow (7/24) is TEST NIGHT @ 6pm! We have some new First Gups & more testing! Hope you can come!Ringgold Black Belts: Tomorrow (7/24) is TEST NIGHT @ 6pm! We have some new First Gups & more testing! Hope you can come!

Been a while since I’ve written anything Covid related. Unfortunately, we now seem to be embroiled in a virtual battle over masks or no masks. Like so many is...sues nowadays it seems completely politicized and separated into two polar opposite camps strongly advocating for their side. Everyone seems to be in the yes, wear a mask camp or the hell no, you can’t tell me what to do camp. I’ve seen videos of people on both sides of this discussion being rude, argumentative, and downright assholes about their point of view. That’s not the way we should be going about things. Personally, as a primary care physician with more than two decades of experience, study, and learning I fully support the wearing of cloth surgical/cloth masks by the general public. There is no question in my mind that the widespread use of the masks will reduce the transmission of the virus. I have personally spoken to numerous infectious disease experts, pulmonologists, critical care doctors, and other primary care physicians and they all agree widespread use of masks will help. Sixty physicians in TN, including many of the leading aforementioned specialists, have written Gov. Bill Lee to require mask use statewide. Remember we are physicians. We spent our lives studying and learning about these very disease processes. We are not politicians. We don’t care about your political affiliation and neither does the virus. If you don’t believe our claims, here’s a Lancet (old, well respected medical journal from England) article supporting such. https://www.thelancet.com//PIIS0140-6736(20)31142/fulltext Here’s another study showing that states mandating had a greater decline in Covid 19 growth rates than those that didn’t. https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/10.1377/hlthaff.2020.00818 I’ve seen many question the safety of such masks. I’ve read people claim they cause C02 retention, that they cause you to retain more of the viral particles and place you at higher risk. Several memes claiming such were widely distributed on social media. These claims are entirely false. Loose fitting surgical masks or cloth masks do not provide a tight seal on the face and there is no co2 trapping or lowered oxygenation by wearing such a mask. I’ve walked the halls of my office with a pulse ox on my finger and it’s remained normal with both a surgical mask and an N95 respirator (which I wear all day, every day, in my office). Then entire rationale of using a surgical/cloth mask is to reduce the risk of droplet transmission of the virus by someone who is infected but not yet showing symptoms. When you have such a mask on you are protecting others from yourself and the droplets you can spread containing the virus. When others wear a mask they are protecting you. These masks aren’t perfect, they don’t completely eliminate the risk of transmission but they do in fact greatly reduce it. Multiply that by millions of people all over the country wearing masks and all of a sudden we’re making a big difference. The more people that wear them the more we can reduce transmission. When combined with other measures such as social distancing, the effectiveness is improved even more. Seems like a no brainer. Are the masks comfortable? Initially no, but after wearing it for a while you hardly notice it. Is having one handy all the time a pain in the ass? Yes it is. Sometimes I forget to bring one but 95% of the time you see me out and about I’ll have a mask on. It’s just part of my daily carry now. To me it’s a minor inconvenience but I want to do my part to keep those I care most about safe. Cases are increasing in the greater Chattanooga area. Yes, much of that is due to increased testing rates but more importantly the numbers of hospitalized Covid patients are increasing in both Hamilton County TN and in Whitfield County Ga. While not yet overwhelming our health care systems we are seeing a steady increase over the past few weeks, which is a concerning trend. I’m steadfast in my belief that we don’t need to go back to shelter in place orders and we must maintain our open economy. I’m just as strong in the belief that everything we can do to decrease the risk of transmission in our community is wise. By doing so we can decrease transmission, decrease future hospitalizations, and decrease the number of deaths. Isn’t that a common goal we all can agree on? Is that not something worthy of a minor inconvenience? Wearing a mask is not much to ask. Be kind. Protect those around you. Hopefully they care enough to protect you as well. This isn’t a political idea, this is a public health mandate. Those of us that have dedicated our lives to caring for others agree it’s wise to wear a mask. Care for your fellow man. Be nice to others. Don’t be an ass to those that don’t agree with you, but please do wear a mask. TL/DR: Exceptionally educated doctors don’t care about your politics but we really think wearing a mask is a good idea.

Tomorrow night, 7/8/2020, we will have SPARRING DRILLS class. Not contact yet.. Small steps!!

Today @ Jessie Thornton's United Karate Studio, we begin this modified class schedule. With one class @ a time this allows us to regroup on one side & sanitize before beginning another class. One day at a time!! Hope you're kicking with us today!!

We still have class spots available for today & Wednesday. Call or text Mrs. Thornton @ 423-413-4809. Beginning next Mon, July 6th, we will attempt this modified schedule: (Please note a few changes from pre-Covid.)